With Fletcher Cox, Eagles GM Howie Roseman struck gold in 2012 draft

Third in a series.

Fletcher Cox is an organizational success story, and his drafting a blueprint for how an NFL team can land a Pro Bowl player in the first round.

The Eagles hit on the defensive tackle because they effectively merged the evaluations of their personnel and coaching staffs, because they had a plan in place in case Cox was within striking distance, and because, quite simply, Howie Roseman made the correct call.

Andy Reid still retained authority over football operations, but for the third straight year the young general manager was given more control over the draft. If Roseman is to be held responsible for the ill-fated selection of Danny Watkins a year earlier, he must be given due credit for leading the charge for Cox.

In five seasons, Cox has developed into the one of the best defensive tackles in the league and has been an anchor on the Eagles line. And he's still only 26. But one player does not a draft make, unless said player turns into a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. And the Eagles missed out possibly drafting one that year.

The Eagles' 2012 draft class (we grade the draft here) would easily become the best of Roseman's first three stabs as GM, and in comparison to many other teams, one of the better groups from that year. But aside from Cox, it hasn't aged very well.

Linebacker Mychal Kendricks, after two promising seasons from 2013-14, has regressed and is on the trade block. Defensive end Vinny Curry has yet to earn a start in five seasons even though he was recently awarded the kind of contract reserved for elite edge rushers. And Nick Foles, who had a memorable, albeit short-lived run in 2013, has been recast as the backup quarterback many evaluators predicted he would be at the NFL level.

Those three, along with other 2012 draftees like cornerback Brandon Boykin, offensive lineman Dennis Kelly and running back Bryce Brown, had moments and they can't be taken away both in the impact they had on the team and in how one assesses the class. But any fair evaluation of the 2012 draft must include the players the Eagles passed on, particularly at linebacker and quarterback. (More on that later.)

But with Cox there has been no such regret. Three interior linemen were taken in between the 11th and 14th overall picks and the Eagles snared the best when they traded up three places into the 12th spot. After the Chiefs took Dontari Poe, Roseman sent the Seahawks the 15th pick along with fourth- and sixth-rounders for the Mississippi State defensive tackle. Two selections later, the Rams drafted Michael Brockers.

"We thought he would be a top six or seven pick," Reid said of Cox immediately after the pick. "When he dropped, we started making plans."

Actually, the Eagles already had plans in place just in case Cox or one of the other prospects they had ranked higher fell. The Seahawks had been shopping their first-rounder for weeks in the hope that they could trade back. A few days before the draft Roseman and Seattle GM John Schneider had worked out a mock exchange so they would be prepared to act fast.

Quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, as expected, went 1-2, but when the Dolphins chose Ryan Tannenhill at No. 8, the Eagles started to think that Cox could actually fall into striking range. The Panthers took linebacker Luke Kuechly next, the Bills followed with cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and when Poe's name was announced, Roseman hit speed dial.

"We had ourselves honed in on what we wanted to spend," Reid said then. "And so, we weren't going to get as elaborate as some [teams] did. We had other people there that we liked if this didn't work out."

The decision to draft Cox was the culmination of months, even years of groundwork. Area scout Brett Veach did the initial legwork. He attended Cox's Southeastern Conference games, interviewed coaches and those affiliated with Mississippi State's program and prepared the first dossier on the junior, who was expected to declare a year early.

Roseman and his personnel lieutenants kept tabs on Cox throughout the season, watching film and logging their own notes. But when the NFL season was over, Reid and his assistants jumped into the process with defensive line coach Jim Washburn heading south to work out Cox.

"I told Andy when I came back from working him out in Starkville, he's the biggest 296-pounder I've ever seen," Washburn said after the draft. "He's quick and he's just really athletic. His feet and hands work so well together. He's just a really good football player. He's just a good prospect. He's a better prospect than he is a player at this point."

While Washburn salivated over the potential of Cox in his 4-3 wide-nine scheme - "When God made him," the veteran coach said, "he made him to be in this system right here" - Reid and Roseman stressed that the versatile 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman wasn't scheme-specific.

"We felt he could play in a [3-4] or a 4-3 front, and do it equally as well playing defensive end in a [3-4] or in a 4-3 play defensive tackle," Reid said.

Roseman, snakebit by the two previous drafts that pushed for need over availability, emphasized predraft that the Eagles would stick to taking the best players on their board, even if they didn't fill a hole. They did need to upgrade at defensive tackle, but in this case, Cox was the undisputed choice.

"Everybody was on board," Washburn said. "That was a unanimous deal upstairs. That was pretty neat."

While the Eagles believed they had bagged a big fish - and, in fact, felt positive about the draft overall - they didn't pump up their selections immediately following. A year earlier, Reid oversold Watkins and Jaiquawn Jarrett and those words already rang hollow.

"Time will tell here on the players," Reid said at the conclusion of the 2012 draft. "From my standpoint I think we brought in, not only quality guys, but also good football players. I look forward to seeing them put the wings on."

Roseman didn't even meet with reporters after the draft. That, in part, was related to the yet-to-be-announced shift in the front office that ultimately led to team president Joe Banner's resignation. But the then-GM also avoided draft statements that would come back to haunt him.

By the following January, however, Jeffrey Lurie was already hyping up the 2012 class. Reid had just been fired, and in explaining why Roseman would be retained, the Eagles owner absolved the GM of the 2010-11 drafts, thus placing sole responsibility at the foot of the departed coach and president.

Lurie said that he kept "voluminous notes on talent evaluation" and "came to the conclusion that the person who was providing by far the best talent evaluation in the building was" Roseman.

Even if Lurie is to be taken upon his word, and Roseman should be held accountable only from the 2012 draft on, there were some cringe-worthy misses after Cox. When the Eagles selected Kendricks in the second round, linebackers Bobby Wagner (three Pro Bowls), Zach Brown (one Pro Bowl) and Lavonte David (one Pro Bowl) were on the board.

At quarterback, the Eagles had focused on two quarterbacks they wanted to draft in the third round - Foles and Russell Wilson. Reid preferred the latter. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was a Foles proponent. It's unclear if Reid had been willing to take Wilson with the Eagles' second pick late in the second round.

"I liked Wilson, yeah, I sure did," Reid said.

Curry had dropped and was the team's best available player at No. 59. The Seahawks took Wilson 16 picks later in the third round. Foles would go 13 spots later, 14 places ahead of quarterback Kirk Cousins, who the Redskins drafted in the fourth round.

"At least every couple of years you certainly want to draft [a quarterback] because it's such an important position," Roseman said weeks after the draft. "We feel really good about our quarterback evaluators in this building."

To claim that each of those Pro Bowl players would have been successful had history been rewritten would be anecdotal. The Eagles, of course, weren't the only team to pass on Wagner or Wilson. And for many organizations, the 2012 draft was forgettable.

In the NFC East alone, the Eagles have held up to various arbitrary comparisons. Their nine selections have averaged 41.7 games and 21.1 starts for the team. The Redskins have averaged 29.2 games and 18.9 starts, the Cowboys 34.7 games and 18.9 starts and the New York Giants 29.7 games and 9.3 starts.

The Eagles were also able to turn Bryce Brown's short spell of success into profit by trading him to the Bills for a fourth-round pick. And Chip Kelly, during Roseman's year hiatus, dealt Boykin to the Steelers for a fifth-rounder. Kelly also shipped the Brown fourth-rounder to the Lions during the 2015 draft and in return picked up a third-rounder in 2016.

That selection, ultimately, was used by Roseman in the trade to get quarterback Carson Wentz last April.

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane